Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews All American: Homecoming star Kelly Jenrette, she discusses her family, role as Amara, and acting career!

Transcript

Rushion Interviews All American: Homecoming star Kelly Jenrette, she discusses her family, role as Amara, and acting career! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I'm your host, ras
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Shan McDonald. I recognized that we all have different definitions
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: of success. For you, it may be the size of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: your paycheck. Mine is inspiring people to develop a plan
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: to reach their dreams. It's time to stop reading other
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: people's success stories and start writing your own. You can
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: only exceed expectations by believing in yourself. People always talk
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: about purpose of gifts. You read about that all the time,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: or he had hyped in social media. If you have
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: a gift, lead with your gifts and don't let your friends, family,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: or co workers stop you from planning or living your dreams.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: My guests is Kelly Jenrette. She's an Emmy nominated actress
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: currently starting them and seed up your hit series All
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: American Homecoming in twent eight teams, she and her husband
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: became the first African American married couple to be nominated
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: for Emmies. In the same year. As we know how,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Emmy was on the hit series Handmad's Tale, which I
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: another one of my great series that I love as well.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: She's based in Atlanta, so she took time to come
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: on our show to talk about to spend off and
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: her character she's the president. We have a president on
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the show. Please welcome, come, Money Making Conversation master class,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Kelly Jenrette. How are you doing, Kelly? I don't doing well.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: How are you you know? Um? Uh, my own character.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: She was on the show when it was show premiered,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: so I got to watch the first season as well
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: as that, so I really am immersed into the series.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: So so he said, this guy really knows the series.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: So because so I, you know, I tried to do
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: my prep work, Kelly, and I was trying to jump
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: on the show and like at me even asked the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: generic question, because when you have a series as as complex,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I want to say that complimentary character complex is yours.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: How do you how do you slide in and out
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: of this whole process in the script development? Well? Uh,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I think the thing that I focused on is just
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: telling the truth of the character of the story. It's
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: just so well, it's easy to kind of slide into it.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: And I feel like the character of Mara is very
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: close to me Relly as an individual, and so that
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: makes it easy as well. We know we said that
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: they're fictitious hbc U school. Um, you know, here's my
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: own thing. Like I watching Netflix a lot and the
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: All American series. It trends on Netflix as a TV series,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: and so and so it's and it's one of the
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: top shows on c W. What is encompassing the popularity
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: of this show. I'm not trying to put you on
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: the spot, but obviously you're starting in the series, so
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I'm sure people on the street stop you. I'm sure
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: they make comments of why they watch the show. Well
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: in your character as well. What is the driving force
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: to the fan viewership? I think because it's something that
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: is relatable. I think that people see themselves, especially Black people,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: they can see themselves on the TV screen and not
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: just see themselves, but see their lives, see the complex
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: aspects of their lives, the successes, the trials, and the community.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: You know, seeing a group of people come together to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: support one another. Even if that's something that people don't
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: have in their lives, it's something that they aspire to have.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: It's something that they desire to have. And so I
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: feel like the family aspect of the show, the relatability
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: of the characters on the show is something that really
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: resonates with people, um and not just black people, you know,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: we've we've had people of all races talk to us
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: about how much they love the show. So that's that's
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: something that's humbling and exciting. That's what I'm speaking to.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: She's one of the stars of the t W hits.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Here's All American Homecoming. I know I'm older than you, Kelly,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: and that's a good thing because I feel that everybody
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: lives their life and their paths. But we grew up
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: on a different world, and Different World was a sitcom
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: and so but it inspired a lot of traffic to HBCUs.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Some people say that watching that series change their lives
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: and so, but that was that was a sitcom. This
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: is a drama, so it lends itself for a lot
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: more serious and I think socially conscious storylines. One of
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the one of the storylines is mental health, and I
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: think that's important because in the African American community, we
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: are always to last two. Uh. We try to live
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: in perfect life where we don't want to admit that
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: we have gay in the community. Gave people in the
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: community one of the lists we have mental health issues
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: in the community, we don't make we have high blood pressure,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: all the things that that they may deem as negative.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: It's about learning the truth and then being able to
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: live with it. Those diverse story lines I think really
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: engaged makes the Seriou is popular. That's just my side
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: of the conversation. But you live in it, You live
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: in the script. You're living with these actors who have
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to make these storylines come to life. And then you
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: are like the President, which follows all this drama back
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: to you and and and the mass decision making. So
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: let's talk about that, and I also want to talk
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: to other other characters. But I wanted to get that
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: holistic statement out about your show, which is really positive,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: but it also is a statement about the black community
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: because we don't talk about these things. Yeah, I think
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: I think the show does a really good job of highlighting,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: like you said, things that we don't discuss in in
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the African American community, mental health being one of them.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: You know, I think it is important for us to
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: have those conversations to rid ourselves of the shame and
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: the guilt that comes with not having it all together,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: um and making sure we are careful with the people
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: we trust to help us walk through those situations as well.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: You know, it's it's a beautiful thing to be a
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: part of a show that isn't afraid to kind of
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: go in and dig deep into those things that maybe
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: taboo in our community, right and when you say taboo,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: and it shouldn't be, you know, because this should be
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: conversations and and the word therapy. And I really like
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the way that storyline is working itself out for the
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: for the head coach, but also when I look at
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the series, the fact that the two sports that we're
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: talking about at HBCU that don't get talked about ever
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: because we always talking about the marching band, We're always
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: talking about the football teams, we're all talking about the
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: basketball team is tennis and baseball. And I find that
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: really really cool because I would be personal about it.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: My daughter, you know, before she shattered un she played
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: tennis and was on the on the pro circuit and
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: shot at the need eighteen eventually went to college. So
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I'm very fond of that storyline and then seeing baseball
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: been a very interesting and engaging storyline. It's really a
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: testament to not say they thing else football because we
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: do talk about football in that but those are the
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: two primary storyline. Do when you see these things, because
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: you kind of laugh when I brought it up in
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: a good laugh that they go, this is different and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: it's a good thing for the series. Oh absolutely. So
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: growing up, I have four brothers, they all played baseball.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: My mom tried to get me and my sister into tennis.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: So we always joke about how we could have been
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Venus and Serena. But my mom, my mom still plays
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: tennis to this day. And so those sports were very
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: prevalent in my life and still are, you know, with
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: my mom still playing tennis and my brother uh a
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: huge baseball fan. And so I think it is yet
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: something else that is very unique to our show, that
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: we are highlighting sports that people wouldn't necessarily think like
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: a VCU tennis, HBC baseball, you know, And and it
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: just opens up our eyes to the diversity that we
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: can find at these HBCUs. We'll be right back with
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. And
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: this is not about the marching band. This is not
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: about the football team and halftime. That side of the
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: story I think everybody knows, But HBCUs do have golf teams.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: You know, sbcis have started gymnastic teams. A species have
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: always had baseball teams as well as tennis teams. And
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: so when you look at that storyline development, then you say,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: when we shine, you know, you know, we we thought
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: we're gonna be you know, we supposed to be be Serena
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: and Venus before Serena and Venus. Now, why did you
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: your mom play tennis? Now? How did you get around
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: a mom who plays tennis and play tennis? You know,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: she there's there's debate around this story, but she said,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: you know, she she had us out there and growing
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: up in Atlanta, it's hot, and I think we were
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: just a little too prissy and didn't want to be
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: out there in the sun, you know. And I was like, listen,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: you should have like toughened up. And then like, no,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: you're gonna be out here, You're gonna play. So yeah,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna take your front on this. Now.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Handmaid's Tail, now, that's a pretty rough series. Now I'm
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: trying to find out will you say the word prissy? Now?
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: And that character you played that Handmaids Tail was nothing
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: pressy about that whole set up over it, So please
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: help your boy here to understand why that was prissy
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and handmade's tail wasn't prissy. Well, see, I think you
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: have real life and then the acting life, and so
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: I can act. I can act like a scorn wife.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: You know, those things are are a little easy to do. Yeah,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I love it. I love it because because your resume
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: is amazing, you know, and you know because because I
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: if you get a little history of me, you know,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I I started my career as a stand up comedian,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: went to college math degrees sociology with the IBM lef IBM.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Thought I'd be the next Eddie Murphy and the college's
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: country side. And when I look back at my life now,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I realized, how, you know, where the fortunate or or
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: driven I was to have the career I have, Because
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: having success at twenty and thirty, you still gotta get
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the forty, You still gotta get the fifty she got.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: All those years have still got to come. And do
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: you think like that, do you ever take time to
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: look back at a lot of the success stories, the
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: opportunity that have been presented to you as an actress?
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: That a wow? Yeah, absolutely, I excuse me. Was driving
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: to acting class a couple of weeks ago and passed
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: by a place where I used to have to take
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: my rent check, and that just sent me down the path,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: as the old folks used to say, looking back over
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: my life and thinking things over when I moved out
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: to California and the the amount of nose that I received,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: and the almost and not yet and uh even the
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: yes is you know it is. It's humbling, it's exciting. UM.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I do my best to just try to focus on
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: what is in front of me right now, while not
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: neglecting like, hey, if I'm so fortunate to to continue
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: on in this, like what type of legacy do I
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: want to leave for those who are still here? Um?
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: And so yeah, it is often that I sit back
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, wow, God, thank you because then, and
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: I think it's important for your fans to hear you
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: say that, because everybody wants to be you. You might say, oh, man,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm just out there working. But then in
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: your conversation you said, despite your resume that you have
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: acting classes, you're still going to acting classes. Oh night,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: you're in the your TV series now Emmy nominated actress
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: loved You and uncorked in a number of the projects,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: and here in twit twent two, you're still going to
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: acting classes. Please let my fan base understand why that's important.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: So there there's a proverb that I love. It's it
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: says it is not good to have zeal without knowledge,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: or to be hasty and miss the way. You can
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: be passionate all day and all night, but if you
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: don't have the knowledge to sustain you and what it
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: is that you are seeking, I don't care if it's acting,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: if you want to be a teacher, if you want
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: to be a scientist, like, whatever it is that you
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: want to do, you must have the knowledge to back
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: it up. And as an actor, I'm always in the
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: position of what else can I learn? How can I
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: be better? How can I sharpen this tool that God
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: has given me. I don't ever want to get to
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: a place where like I've arrived. Then that's boring and
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I don't grow. I want to keep growing. And I
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: guess when I'm talking to Kelly Jenrett, one of the
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: stars of the All American series Home Care, it's a
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: spin off of that series based only the fictional hbc U,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I guess we have to say for my fans or
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: even me to understand is that it's just like watching
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Tom Brady. If Tom Brady didn't go to practice, then
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: he couldn't throw touchdowns. He lose timing, he loses chemistry.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: And by going to an acting classes, even though success
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: is in your history, it will be in your future.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: You still have to understand how can you push your character?
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: How can you you know, like I said, cry or
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: laugh or emote a certain scene change? So can you
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: walk your walkers through the steps of what is an
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: acting class experience for somebody that's as successful as you,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Because I'm sure when you walk in a room, the
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: other actors and actors going, oh, she's here, and they
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: try to pick your brain for information because you in
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: some ways they say you've made it. So talk about
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: your acting experience going into these rooms with other actors
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: and actresses and how you maintain that humbleness to get
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: something out of the course. Well, for me, I I
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: love uh classes like I will do one on one coaching,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: but I love the class aspect. I've worked with two
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: very incredible studios, Sue Hamilton's Studios and Berg Studios, which
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: have which are similar in some regards and very different
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: in others. But I think for me, my my approach
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: in being in class and and not even so much
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: that people are like, oh my god. I mean not
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: that they say to me, um, but I know that
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: it is. It's acknowledged, like, yeah, she's an Emmy nominated actress,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: but she's still here in class. And so even when
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I'm not going up in class, when i'm not performing,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: when i'm not doing the scene, when i'm not doing
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a monologue, other people are. And I love being able
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: to see what other people do. I love being able
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: to hear the feedback that other actors get, because then
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I can take that and say, oh, you know what,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: that's a really great note. I'm gonna try that the
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: next time I do my scene or the next time
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: I'm in a situation like this. And so it is
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: really that iron sharpening, iron mentality that I take in
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: and again, like I've not arrived. I don't think I'll
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: ever get to a place where I'm like I don't
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: need to be sharpened anymore. I'm gonna tell you this, Kelly,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: you have arrived. But I'm not saying you don't need
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: to be sharpened. Okay, I say that because of the
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: fact that you know, look, I can't act. I would
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: tell you right now for I you know, I've tried,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: I go. That is not my skills. And as a
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: standard comedian, I was very successful when it came to
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: transition that skills to what you do or individuals like
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: you do y'all. That's that's like amateur and professional. Y'all
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: were professional. I was a superstar amateur. And so you
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: don't get a resume like you get unless you have
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: a arrived because people all getting on these high level
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: auditions and sometimes some people basically they just wanted to
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: hear you show up, so it didn't give you the role. Now,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: But what I do get out of the fact that
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: you in these classes as being a director, I do
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: see that. So talk to us. Are you working on
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: being a director? When will you direct one of the
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: episodes of All American home Coming? Because I see that happening,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: because that's your skill set, I said, I like who
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: you've been talking to you just telling you, Kelly, you
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: know you can sit over here with this humble story
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: your apartment in the games his Nati folk. Okay, I've
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: seen talents like you, and I also know you're one
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: of those people who push other talents on the set,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: you know, because that's your gift. So but that gift
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: will translate behind the camera because you see things differently.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: You see when you're walk into sing you see everybody's role,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: everybody's character. That's a director's eye. I see that I'm
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: watching the show when I'm watching you. I said, so
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: now that we know that ru Sean got all this
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: inside information because he just watch you, that's gonna talk
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: about what your next step gonna happen and Kelly Jenrett's career.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: You know. Uh, thank you so much for saying that.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you, and I actually would like to direct.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: UM would love to direct an episode of Homecoming. We'll
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: we'll see, We'll see what that looks like over over
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: the next couple of seasons. Like I again want to
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: make sure I am sitting in a seat of learning
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: and taking it all in shadowing the different directors that
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: come on our set and work with us. UM reading books,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: you know Michael Schultz, the great Michael Schultz UM who
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: directed several episodes of both All American and All American Homecoming. UM,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: he is someone that is like, yeah, there there are
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: books that you can read um other directors who I'm like,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: do you mind if I shadow you? And they're like, yeah, absolutely,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: come on, and you can shadow me on this other
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: show that I'm working on too. So it's something that
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm like tim tipping my toe in, but I
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: think I'm just like just jumping. But make sure you
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: have the knowledge with the zeal. We'll be right back
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Now,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you some let me tell you. I
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: gotta tell you this. You know, just just a colleague, okay,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: you know. I fortunately executive sitcoms. I've written on sitcoms.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: I produced sitcoms, the large scale productions, and I was
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: always never the person making the decisions. And then I did.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Then then I was in Vegas during this huge Neighborhood
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Award event with me and Steve Harveys was doing and
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: and I did it. And I realized when I walked away,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: I went, that's it. That's it, And that's what I'm
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: telling you. Where you're at, you're at the that's it stage,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and I say that because you will do your homework.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: My friend, You're not gonna jump out there and not
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: be prepared. You got an amazing husband's gonna help you
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: be prepared. You have people in an industry who are
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: rooting for you. I'm just letting you know that that
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: you don't get this resume based on luck, right place
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: at the right time. It's a skill set that you're
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: still doing iron shop AND's iron I'm just letting you
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: know that when you do direct your first episode, I
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: just know that, hopefully I pushed you a little bit.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Hopefully your husband push you a lot more because he
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: sees the same thing I see. And the blessing is
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: that when it happens, you're gonna go that's it. Wow.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: And I'm saying you should have started earlier, But I
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: just want you to cross that line and realize you're
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: not gonna stop acting. But boy, it's gonna open the
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: door for you. That's gonna scare you because you're gonna
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: see how much you're gonna change the industry on that
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: side of the lens giving directions for young actors, whether
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: they're white or black or Latino, because you're gonna be
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: a You're going to be one of those actresses that
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: can act whether special effects. You'll be able to do
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: it all because your career has shown you to participate
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: in all those lanes. And I'm not turning this into
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: a motivational speech for Kelly. I'm just letting you know
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: you're talented, young lady, and I'm fortunate to be a
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: person who shared the experience. And on the reason I
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: call your young lady because you're younger than me, and
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I have to show you respect by saying, as an
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: older person in this business who've seen town like you
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: and and they've crossed over. You're jump run, uh key, slide,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: do your thing right now. You just off all American Homecoming.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: You're gonna be directing some episodes before it's all done, Okay.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: I feel I'm like, well, how we passed the offering
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: plate because you just you just gave a whole word
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: right there. Um Man, I'm like, do you know my husband?
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Have you been talking to him like what is happening? Well,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: you know, the thing about it is that you know
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: I'm married, and you know, and my wife's talented it
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and and sometimes I have to remind her of her
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: gifts and not on her how portant she is in
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: my life. Had to do that yesterday, you know what
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. And uh, because you know, we go through
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: these processes and and and and and if you don't,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: who's who is to remind you? If the person that
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: doesn't love it, that loves you the most, that's the
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: person should be reminding. But you know that my only
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: thing that bringing you on was not to get you
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to this part of the conversation. It's port It's just
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: this is a conversation to stimonial conversation about your career
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: and the brilliance of it and being this matriarch on
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: this TV series that's a hit show on c W
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: called All American Homecoming, and you're the stewardship over that show.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: You know, you might not really live in our lines
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: all the time, but your your imagery, your your being
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: able to when they come for those those brunch those
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: brunch dinners, how that becomes like the old Black Households
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: where everybody will meet on Sunday dinner at the family
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot of symbolism. So when you ask
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: we wrap up this interview and you know, not go
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: about what I talked about in your directing. What do
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: you enjoy the most about being on this series All
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: American Homecoming, There's a hit on c W. There are
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: so many things to enjoy. What immediately comes to mind
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: are the actors that I get to work with. There's
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: not one day that I don't go on set and
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: have a full hearty laugh. We laugh all the time,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: and I love to laugh. I love to enjoy myself
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: and we we have the deep conversations, we have the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: tough conversations, but the family dynamic um on set, it's
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: just amazing. It is something that I look forward to
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: every time I get to go to set. Well, I
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: look forward to I turn on TV and see y'all.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Let me see y'all okay, because it can say y'all
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: on Houston, Texas. So y'all flow is really good. Out
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: of my mouth. I'm just in Atlantic an extension of
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the South, but more important to your career is a blessing.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Watching the show with African American talent that is relatable
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: is a blessing, but more important to the storylines and
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: well written but the but the leadership being able to
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: go into the storylines about the community that that we
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: don't talk about normalizing it and story lines that carry
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: credibility is a blessing. And I think years from now,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: what Hilman did for us in different world, you guys
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: are gonna do for the next generation of ten years,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: twenty years and not say they were inspired by this
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: TV show that was on a fictitious hbcuth school in Atlanta.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: And you're one of the stars of that show. So Kelly,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: that will be part of your legacy and people probably
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: ain't their kids after you. You know, that's my favorite
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: character on home Coming. But thank you for coming on
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: money making conversation, Master Glass, You're you're a blessing. The interview.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you so much. Thank you for the
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: life that you spoke into my life. I receive it,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: I hear you, and I will move according me. There
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: you go, there you go. Well, now we're gonna come on,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: come on, come on, come on, come on, come again.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Thank you. You keep that laugh. That's what I'm talking
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to that laugh right there. Keep their spirit high and
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: we'll talking soon, okay, because I keep my I'm gonna
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: keep a little monitor on you. I keep my little
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: monitor and if I see you directed anything. You know,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: your first phone call gonna be your book. Not to
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: say that I told you so, just to say what
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: prompted the jump though, what prompted the jump, Be safe,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: that we talked soon. Love you,